Caps Today, 4/6/13

Posted on April 06, 2013
by Ben Guerrero

Today’s
Storyline

The Washington Capitals will face the Florida
Panthers in Florida tonight for the first half of back-to-backs.

The Capitals have compiled a 23-8-1 record against
Florida in the last 32 matchups and have gone 10-5-1 in their last 16 road
games vs. Florida. The Capitals are 3-0-0 this season against the Panthers,
outscoring Florida 18-6 in that span, and have scored at least five goals in
all three contests so far this season. Washington has not lost a season series
to the Panthers since the 2005-06 season and is looking to sweep the season
series against Florida for the first time since 2009-10 when it went 6-0.

Green
streak – Mike Green scored for the fourth consecutive game on April 4 vs. the
Islanders and has tallied 5g-1a in his last four contests. Thursday marked
Green’s first goal spree of as many as four consecutive contests since he
scored in four straight from Oct. 30-Nov. 7, 2010, a period that included
Braden Holtby’s first NHL win (Nov. 5) and first NHL start (Nov. 7). Green
holds the NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman (eight games).

Here to
assist – Nicklas Backstrom extended his point streak to four games with an assist
on April 4 vs. New York and now has 1g-6a in his last four contests. Backstrom
is currently tied for third in the league in assists (30) after tallying 17 helpers
in 18 combined games in March and April.

Southeast
treat – The Capitals have compiled a 10-3-0 record against teams from the
Southeast Division this season, the best record in Southeast divisional play. Washington
has won its last four contests against Southeast Division opponents and is 3-0
this season against Florida.

Explosive offense – The Capitals scored four goals in the game’s
first 8:10 on March 7 vs. Florida. That marks the second-fastest four goals
scored to start a game in Capitals history. The first came in 6:49 on 1/21/86
vs. the Minnesota North Stars. The four first-period goals tied a season high
for a single period while the seven goals scored were a single-game high this
season for Washington.

Caps add Erat – The Capitals
acquired forwards Martin Erat and Michael Latta from Nashville at the trade
deadline on Wednesday. Erat ranked tied for first on Nashville in points and
led the team in assists at the time of the trade and skated 14:43 in his
Capitals debut on April 4 vs. the New York Islanders.

He ranks second in
Nashville franchise history in career points (481), goals (163), assists (318),
games played (723), game-winning goals (26) and ranks third in power-play goals
(42). He recorded a career-high 58 points (19 goals, 39 assists) last season
for Nashville and has eclipsed the 50-point plateau in five of the last six
seasons. Erat entered the season as one of just 17 NHL players (including Mike
Ribeiro) to have recorded 45 or more points each of the last eight seasons
(since 2003-04).